Baltimore native John Schuerholz, Bud Selig elected to Hall of Fame

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Baltimore native John Schuerholz, who began his long baseball career with the Orioles, is headed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Today's Game Era candidates Schuerholz and former commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig were elected to the Hall tonight, becoming members 313 and 314 of the Cooperstown shrine.

They will join any members from the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot who gain election on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. The Class of 2017 will be inducted on July 30 in Cooperstown.

Schuerholz played second base at Baltimore's City College High School, but received no college offers after graduating and instead enrolled at nearby Towson State. There, Schuerholz was an all-conference selection in both baseball and soccer and was named Athlete of the Year during his senior season.

His career in Major League Baseball began with the Orioles in 1966. He sent a letter of inquiry to Jerold Hoffberger, the president of the National Brewing Company and chairman of the Orioles. The letter found its way to then Orioles president Frank Cashen. He passed on the letter to Orioles director of player development Lou Gorman, who hired Schuerholz as a personal assistant.

Schuerholz later worked for the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals and was general manager in Kansas City when the Royals won the 1985 World Series. He went on to a brilliant career with the Atlanta Braves.

Under Schuerholz, the Braves had a remarkable run of success. For 14 seasons from 1991-2005, the Braves finished first in their division in every completed season. Atlanta advanced to the World Series four times in that stretch, winning the 1995 Fall Classic.

Schuerholz became the first general manager to lead teams to World Series titles in both the American League and National League.

Selig was the longtime owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and served as MLB's commissioner from July 9, 1998 to Jan. 25, 2015.

Candidates needed 12 of 16 votes for election from the Today's Game era committee and here are the results: Schuerholz (16 votes, 100 percent); Selig (15 votes, 93.8 percent); Lou Piniella (seven votes, 43.8 percent); Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser, Davey Johnson, Mark McGwire and George Steinbrenner each received fewer than five votes.